I NEED SOME CREATIVE INSPIRATION!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some things that I took pics of recently to send in for art show applications. I am trying to get into a creative state of mind again, these are some of the most recent things I've created - and that was months and months ago! All the cats that I did (in the first pic) have coats with buttons that open up with a message inside. I recently took on a special order to create a visual representation of a Christian family's mission statement. I've done several others, and have gotten more of these projects by word of mouth as friends see the finished product. When it's finished it will look similar in style to this one that I already did, only with different words:

Double click on the image if you want to look at it closer. Now that I'm looking at it, I'm hoping it looked better in person than it did in this picture. Some of you may have already guessed that I am procrastinating getting started on this project, by blogging instead. Part of the problem is getting started. I can't remember the order of how I put these together. I am literally sitting with my back turned to my work table as I sit and type on the computer. I have no excuses. Damon was nice enough to cut the plywood into 2ft by 2 ft and even primed it for me. It's all ready to go. I just need to do it!!

The Long Awaited Japan Pictures

Damon's plane was two levels. It was a 747-400.

Here's Damon in his Tokyo hotel room, wearing the complimentary PJ's/robe and slippers. We're all glad that he opted to keep the sweat pants on. The room was pretty standard, with the exception of the bidet in the bathroom, which my engineer some how rigged to go off without actually sitting on it, just to see what would happen. What happens, you ask? Water goes shooting across the room, that's what happens.

Above is the view from Damon's hotel room. In the distance is Mt. Fuji.

Right across the street from Damon's hotel was a Krispy Kreme donuts, which must have been something new because the line was always HUGE!! All the people in the orange square are waiting in turnstile type lines, then the line extends around the corner.

This picture was taken in the train station. Lots of people wear masks like the two in the picture. So are they sick or trying to keep from getting sick? Bird flu? Either way it's kind of spooky. So anyway, those are the highlights (according to Damon)!

Scary Dreams

Sam has had a few scary dreams lately. He talks about them alot - although I think he's actually only had them each once. The first is that he and his friend Caleb - also three - are stuck in an elevator. In the second one we are at McDonald's and Jack and Noah are there. In Sam's words, "Jack is being weird and he has a moustache. Noah is running around. And it's really scary."

Damon's Home!

Damon made it home safe and sound last night - only 35 minutes delayed. He's pretty wiped so we're laying low today. He's only now just really gotten up for the day - and I'm sure there'll be plenty of napping this weekend. I'll post some pics soon, when I have time to download them - and if Damon will let me, there is a very nice one of him in his Japanese robe and slippers.

Time Flies

We finally heard from Damon Monday night via e-mail. The calling card he'd been given hadn't been activated, so he was stuck with email. He was able to finally give us a call last night. It was good to hear his voice. It's so strange and confusing to have him call here 6pm Tues, and there it is 8am Wed, and he's just starting his day. He has been able to find his way around and is working hard full days full of meetings, without time to relax. On this end of the world, our time is going quickly. We spent all day yesterday in CR with Laura, her kids and my mom, rummaging at the Goodwill's and Stuff stores. We found a cool new inexpensive place to eat - Cici's Pizza - a pizza buffet over by Westdale mall. It's $4.99 ($1.49 for a drink). The new hit was the Macaroni and Cheese pizza. The boys are not big fans of shopping, and they wore me out with their bickering and complaining. (Mostly this was from Sam - who I can't trust much to roam yet, because he never comes back, so I had to keep him closer, which made him furious.) Luckily, he's much better for my mom than for me, so she'd take him in her cart and he'd be all cute and funny. Today Will has a birthday party to go to at the Children's Museum, which should be interesting for Sam - since he gets to hang out with Mom and shop, once again. Then tomorrow is pick-up-Damon-at-the-airport-day!

My Hubby

Can I just tell everyone how much I appreciate my husband?! He cleaned the whole house from top to bottom this morning while I took Sam to the doctor and went to the grocery store. Now he's getting ready to load up all my art stuff and display racks into the truck to take over to Carver arena this afternoon. He'll unload me and help set me up and then take the boys to get some dinner while I finish setting up. All this plus he's supposed to be packing and getting ready to leave for Japan tomorrow morning. I've been giving him such a hard time because I don't want him to go - especially while I'm home for 5 days with 2 kids during spring break and no school routine to keep us busy. But I really do appreciate all that he does for me - especially because I'm so tired and cranky and feeling yucky. He's very patient with me. I truly am blessed. Thank you God for giving me my hubby!

Hot Tip

Thought I'd pass along this little-known fact: Sam says that if you stand up and put one leg up in the air behind you, it gives you more "power" for blowing your nose. Now he's actually willing to blow his nose with a little persuading, so I'm like hey, whatever works. The only thing about this particular method is that you may need to hold on to something so that you don't fall over.

13 Weeks . . . and Counting

On Monday I will be 13 weeks pregnant. Doesn't sound like much but hey, I'm moving out of the first trimester! None of my pants fit anymore so I'm on to the stretchy, sloppy pants and some maternity pants. A week ago Thursday I went in for a check up and everything looked great. Since I wasn't quite 12 weeks at the time Dr. Adam didn't know if she'd be able to hear a heartbeat with the sonar thingy (and that's the technical term) so she said let's go to the room next door and do a quick ultrasound! I could get used to this treatment! If I'd known ahead of time, I'd have brought someone along with me to share in it. I saw a very lovely head profile and arms and legs kicking around and of course a beautiful heartbeat. The fact that Dr. Adam kept calling the baby "he" didn't phase me at all, since it's too early to be able to see that yet. Back again the end of March.
Sam and I have been sick this week with sinus, cough and cold stuff. Sam's been coughing so much he broke little blood vessels all over his face, so he has all these little red dots on his face, poor guy. He can't breathe through his nose at all, but yet refuses to try to blow it. He often comes up to me and says in his little hoarse voice, "I'm just not feewing vewy well." So after two trips to the doc this week, we finally got him started on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. One of his newer symptoms is conjunctivitis which now I've got too, along with my sinus infection and cough. So I got on antibiotics today. Hopefully next week will go better.

SLUSH

Sunday the boys played outside all afternoon. They were fascinated by the melting snow, and the puddles and rivers that formed. Along with some help from the neighbor kids, they made a "river" down the hill between the houses. Imagine my surprise to pull out of the driveway this morning to take Will to school to discover we'd been "raqueted!" When I asked Will what was going on with our yard I discovered no, it was not a practical joke, the raquets are lighthouses and water towers along the river. They are now firmly frozen in place this morning, but I'm sure by this afternoon they'll be able to be pulled up. Not sure what the neighbors think of this since the boys are pretty much encrouching on their property.
The kids also made "Arthur":

The neighbors made a tiny sweet snowbaby because they have a sweet bundle due any day now. He's just wittle:

On Saturday the big storm came through and we braved the elements to go to the Go Fish concert that evening at our church. The kids had a great time! When we got home we discovered we'd lost power like most of the area. As soon as we got settled in with some candles and flashlights the power came back on! We continued to have problems with our Mediacom throughout the weekend - losing phone, cable and internet off and on. We thought we might have some overnight guests as both Damon's and my parents did not gain power until Sunday morning, but they braved it out. My mom still doesn't have any hot water, and they are checking out their hot water heater this morning. It's very strange because the pilot is lit, but there's no hot water. Times like this make you realize how much we take for granted and how spoiled we really are. What would happen if we really had to do without our basic "necessities" for any length of time?

Basketball

Will is playing basketball once a week at the local rec center. The kids are all 1st and 2nd graders. As you can see, they are pretty lax on any rules, and just let the kids have fun and work on some basic skills. You can't steal the ball or foul and they don't have to dribble down court, but start at the half court line instead. Kids have been known to double (and triple) dribble! The reason that Will waits so long the second time he has the ball is because he only likes to throw the ball to his good friend Jack, who does manage to eventually get open and catch the ball, after some elaborate hand signals on the part of Will. In fact after I taped this, Jack had to leave early and Will didn't know he was gone and he stood there with the ball looking all over for Jack before he'd pass it, and we were all yelling at him, "Jack's gone! You'll have to throw it to somebody else!" Which the other parents got a kick out of. As you can see he's got a lot of energy, and was usually the first one to run down the court! What a good way to wear a guy out! I think he's probably a better guard than a forward! That's Audrey, Jack's little sister with the blond pigtails, who is adorable! Sam likes to play with her.

Telephone

Did you ever play "telephone" with 2 paper cups and some string? It really works, (if you hold the string tight.) Cheap entertainment.

Here is Will's first grade self portrait. Remember last year's? (See previous post.) I hope that they do one every school year!

Check Your Peanut Butter!

Look at this news story here. We have 2 jars at our house of GV peanut butter that have these lot numbers on it! One is almost empty! Nobody's had any problems here, but why risk it?! Guess I'll see if Wal-Mart will refund me.

Hangy Thingies

Last week was Lemme School's annual Carlos O' Kelly's night - a fundraiser for the Lemme PTA. This year they did something new and added a little craft fair to it. About 10 families participated including us! We had a very small amount of space to work with, so we brought an abreviated version of our set-up. Because I hadn't really been feeling too up to it, I pulled everything together at the last minute, which meant the night before Will was finally filled in on what we going to do. He was instantly excited and came up with the awesome idea to sell some of the wire and bead creations that he is so fond of making. He already had a stockpile made from previous crafting sessions (basically me just trying to keep him busy while I'm doing my artwork.) In the past he'd always commented that I could sell them at my shows if I wanted and I was always like, yeah right, and then would proceed to take apart the work he'd done as I needed the beads. But I thought this was the perfect opportunity to actually make good on his dreams! So the day of the sale, after school I set him to work making more wire and beads, we made a sign and came up with a price and a name. Will suggested several names for his creations including "Short Stuff" and the name we finally ended up choosing, "Hangy Thingies." He suggested we sell them for $2 a piece, but my vote of 25 cents won out. We made a sign that said, "Hangie Thingies! Hang on your backpack, coat, or in a window. Made by 1st grader Will Brown. Only 25 cents!" I made sure to prominantly display his bowl of "Hangie Thingies" right on my money cart where everyone who walked by would be sure to see our sign. He was such a good salesman! He'd explain to all of his classmates who came along what he was selling. They were all pretty excited and the moms thought he was cute and he ended up selling 24 of his Hangy Thingies! Half of his sales went to Lemme and he got to keep the other half! I'm a little concerned that I've created a monster. I'm betting that he's going to want to sell them at all my shows, but I'm not sure he's going to have quite the enthusiastic response from the general public as he did from his classmates and their parents. And I'm not sure I need the competition! (jk!) As you can see from the picture, they are so random, it's hilarious! Some are really long, some are tiny. No two are alike, that's for sure!

Brown Family

Look here at this handsome bunch!

Baby News!

Those of you who I regularly talk to already know our good news: We are having a baby! Those same people have been wondering why I have yet to blog about it, or about anything at all. Mostly it's because I haven't been feeling all that great, have no creative energy, and honestly, I'm having a hard time finding the cuteness in my kids that I know of course is still there, but I'm not in a very "funny" mood these days! So since we're having a snow day today and I'm looking for an excuse to escape my kids, I'm down on the computer! I am 10 weeks along as of yesterday. Hopefully I'll be through the yucky first trimester stuff soon! From this ultrasound done at week 7, we could see the heartbeat! There are two tiny white crosses within the black jellybean that measure the baby "head to tail" at 11 mm! That's a grain of rice! (The black "jellybean" is the sac.) Of course 3 weeks later, the baby has grown quite a bit, but is still tiny!
The boys seem excited but it's hard to maintain that level until October when we are due. They are excited about getting bunkbeds. Sam always asks me, "Mom, you have a baby in your heart?" Because that's how we talk about Jesus. Then he'll say, "I have Jesus in my heart and you have a baby in your heart!" Will has taken full credit for naming Sam, (which he did not) and has offered to name this baby because he's so good at it. He has not however come up with any candidates yet. Will is also excited about the possibility of spending the night at his cousins' house. I just told him we'll have to wait and see. He hopes that it is a girl, but Sam doesn't really seem to care.

Iowa Rocks!

In case you didn't know, Iowa Rocks! The guy in the upper right hand corner is saying, "Na na na boo boo, you can't catch me!" Notice the guy in the upper left is giving the "thumbs up." The guy below him is saying, "What's Iowa?" The television is saying, "and the Iowas win again!" And then of course there's the piece of furniture every true Hawkeye fan wished they owned: the Iowa couch. This picture is what Will evidently did during Sunday school, inspired by sitting next to his friend Jake, who was drawing a similar picture, and whose entire family are HUGE Hawkeye fans.

Sign Surprise

This morning Will had us stay out of the living room this morning until this special surprise was complete. It says "Thank you for being great parents." I told you he was into making signs! Of course I didn't have the heart to remind him that all that scotch tape is not good for my walls. Everytime I walk past it the obsessive compulsive part of myself cringes, but then the mom part of me smiles and melts.

The Big Concert

I sure do wish that I had a video to share with you all. But Will insisted I not tape him, so I honored his wishes. I sure did want to though, I even thought of trying to secretly video him, but I didn't. He announced last night when we got home from dinner that there was going to be a concert. He made a sign (he's big into making signs right now) that said, "Will Brown will be having a concert tonight on the 19 day of January." Then he drew arrows pointing the way to the next sign. The next sign was a sign up sheet for who was coming. So we all wrote our names down. We waited on the couch, and started chanting his name and getting restless. Finally the "star" appeared, and got up on his "stage" - the lounger. He started off by taking attendance from his sign up sheet - something I don't think I've ever seen done at a concert before! Once we were all "here," he said, "I'm going to start by telling you a little about my life." (Where does he get this stuff?!) He said, "I'm Will Brown. I have a mom named Jill, and a dad named Damon. I have a little brother named Sam. (To which Sam said, "That's me!") I go to Lemme School. My teacher's name is Mrs. Hackbarth." He proceeded to tell us all of his friends names, and ended with "I've had a pretty good life." (My goodness!) We all clapped and hooted and hollered. Then he sang us a song - one that they do at AWANAS that he'd heard on the radio on the way home earlier. After the song he announced the show was over and left the room. We all hooted and hollered some more, yelling that we wanted an encore. He came back out and said there'd be no encore, but that he would be signing autographs in his room after the show. So we all knocked on his "dressing room door" and acted really nervous to see him "up close and personal" - Damon even "fainted!" Damon asked him to write something like "to the most handsome dad" or something like that. It was so much fun to be all silly together. Although I long ago realized that Will is not lacking in self-esteem, last night pretty much confirmed it for me!

Cute Samness

Tonight we went to El Ranchero for dinner. (Yum!) Sam was being quite cute. He was busily eating his chicken nuggets and french fries (yes, I know, not your typical mexican food) when out of the blue he held up his hand like a stop sign, and said this, "Stop doing wrong, and be good." Then he said to himself, "Let's do it altogether for God." (which I'm guessing is what his teacher says!) and then he repeated, "Stop doing wrong, and be good." I asked him where he'd learned that, and he said at church. Not sure if that was a Sunday school thing, or a Wednesday morning thing while I'm at Hearts in Touch. But let me tell you it was pretty darn cute. THEN..... we saw Will's teacher at the restaurant. She came up to our table and Sam just snuggled right up to her and gave her a big hug! It was very cute. I think she was surprised and pleased that he did that. THEN....we were using the whole reverse psychology thing on Sam to get him to take his clothes off by himself for his bath. I said "oh no, he can't do it, he's just little, he's my little baby." To which of course he wants to prove me wrong. Works every time..........for now! He was all like, "No, I'm a big boy, I'm going to be a big Daddy." I said I liked it when my boys stayed little and I could hug them and rock them and change their diapers and give them their bottles, to which Sam said, "You can go to Lily's house and kiss Lily." So, ok then, maybe I will!

AWANAS

Will is having a great time at AWANAS again this year. They learn bible verses, play games, sing songs, have snacks, and do craft projects at our church. He earns badges and "jewels" to put in a little crown pin for his vest, for every so many verses that he learns. He is great at it. Damon helps him out a lot in learning and also participates as a group leader. Sometimes they make up little songs or rhythms for the verses. It's neat to see scripture being tucked away in his heart, and along the way we are all learning.

Falling Asleep in Strange Places

Can you tell which picture is real and which picture is fake?! Take a close look, it's pretty obvious!




The first picture is real: Sam was sick and really did fall asleep while eating dinner. You can even see the Tylenol in the picture that I kept trying to get him to take. He had a sore throat and fever. The second picture is fake: Sam trying not to smile gives it away! We were just messing around being silly, so I took his picture.

Sneak Attack

It didn't take long for Damon to go and purchase his own Nerf dart gun. The other day I came home from the store and came up the stairs with my arms full of groceries. I got up to the top of the stairs, and my family was waiting around the corner, ready to ambush me! They let fire, and I screamed. (This picture is a re-enactment.) I may have to break down and get myself a gun. It's too bad they don't make a pink one.

E-I-E-I-O

Sam loves to sing. The noise you hear in the background, halfway through is NOT coming from me. It is Will making a raspberry noise trying to rile his brother.

Ride Em' Cowboy!

Will would love it if Lucy would let him ride on her back, so he waits until she's sleeping, and tries to sneak onto her back. It never seems to work out.

Mouse Hunt

Last night at 1:30 am, we had a mouse in our bedroom! It was the scariest thing ever. I would dare say this rivals seeing an oppossum in front of your apartment, because this critter is right there in your BEDROOM - where you SLEEP! After the second time of wondering if I was seeing something scurrying back and forth between our bed and the closet out of the corner of my eye, I woke up Damon. We knew there probably was something there and it wasn't my imagination, because two nights earlier we'd lain awake listening to something scurring in the walls. He got an old shoe and a small trash can and stuffed clothes under the cracks in our doors so it couldn't escape our room. We knew it was in our closet, but it was an agonizing game of hide and seek since there's so much stuff in our closet. Damon painstakingly pulled out dirty clothes from the floor of our closet, one at a time, shaking them to see if the mouse was in them, while I huddled on the bed. Once one side of the closet floor was empty, he started in on the other side, where all of my shoes are piled together. Halfway through taking one shoe out at a time, the mouse jumped out and the chase was on! Damon jumped so high that the shoe that he was using as a weapon flew out of his hand and he tried to catch it by the strings, so the shoe was flailing around, while I sat on the bed and screamed and laughed and bit into my knuckles to keep from screaming and waking up the boys! The mouse went further back into the shoe pile, so more shoes were taken out until only a few were left. We knew the mouse had to be cornered. So Damon very bravely began poking the pile with his weapon shoe which would send the mouse scurring around the inside of the closet, over to the empty side where the doors were shut. I could hear lots of bang, bang, bangs, as Damon attempted to hit it with his shoe, but that mouse was so fast, it would end up back in the shoe pile! A few times the chase sent the mouse out into our bedroom, where it had lots of hiding places from all the stuff Damon had brought out of our closet. Finally, after chasing it around the bedroom floor, he whacked the mouse a good one, and then he just left the shoe on top of the mouse and pressed down repeatedly with all of his weight! It was one flat and dead mouse! All you could see was its little tail sticking out from under the shoe! SO GROSS!!!!!!! I was so glad it was dead, I didn't even mind cleaning up the blood stains on the carpet! Damon scooped it up in the trash can and took it down to the garage trash. We laid in bed afterwards giggling and replaying moments, and agreed that we both have the image of that nasty tail sticking out from underneath Damon's shoe etched into our minds forever. We had so much adrenaline running through our systems and we were so freaked out, that we couldn't get back to sleep for the longest time. Questions are still running through my brain: Can mice climb up beds? Are there more? How did it get in? How did it get all the way to our bedroom? We are going to be investing in some traps or poision or something today. Even now as I'm typing this I can't put my feet on the floor, because who knows what's under the desk?!

Funky Purse

This is my new purse. Isn't it great?! It was a present from my sister, Laura. Will isn't too sure about it. First he thought that it was his Grandma Connie's. When I told him it was mine and asked him if he liked it he said, "Uh....heh, heh." Then he told me if I go on a safari I'd better not take it to the jungle with me, or I might lose it. So the next time I go on safari, I guess I'd better leave this baby at home.

Jiggly Goodness

ATTENTION ALL YOU JELLO JIGGLER LOVERS . . . Look at what I found at Goodwill!!!!!!!!!! At $1.38, this may be the cheapest entertainment I've had in a long time. It makes footballs and helmuts! My kids are almost as excited as I am. If anyone ever comes across any other jello molds on their excursions, let me know!!! It even came with instructions on what flavors to mix together to get different colors, so I could actually make black and gold ones! So be expecting this tasty addition at some future family gatherings!

Homemade Gifts are the Best!

Will made us some precious Christmas presents at school. My first tip that he was making us something came before Christmas when I was sitting at the table filling in dates on my new 2007 calendar. Will noticed and seemed a little put out. He asked if I still needed one for my fridge, so I caught on and I told him oh yeah, you can never have too many. Sure enough this was our present:

It came wrapped in this:

This was our card:

The outside says, "You are really special to me." and the inside says, "Because you care about me. I love you, From Will"

Will made Sam a present too! It was a book he made about a gingerbread boy. It has flaps to open to find out where the gingerbread boy is hiding. I didn't take a picture of it because Will brown-markered the cover nearly to death. But it's really cute. He insisted on giving us our presents first before he and Sam opened any of their other presents! He really wanted Sam to sit with him and let him read the whole story to him, but Sam didn't appreciate the homemade gift as much as we did, especially when presents were waiting! Here's the card Will made for Sam:

On the outside it says, "You are nice. You are fun. You are a good brother." On the inside it says, "You are the right brother for me. From Will P.S. Please don't kick me or hit me." On the other side: "Merry Christmas!" Isn't that the perfect holiday message?! You know- peace, goodwill toward men and all that jazz?!

Yee-haw!

Sam got the whole cowboy get-up from his aunt Emily. He's got a vest, wrist cuffs - with fringe!, hat, bandana, a map, badge, a working canteen, and the best part are the CHAPS! Since he already had a stick horse, he's set! So now he can be a pirate, or a cowboy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hope you all have had a great weekend. We've had two Christmases so far, and a third one on Saturday with Damon's family! On Christmas eve, we celebrated with my side of the family. By far, the hit of the day were the nerf dart shooters that the 4 boy cousins each received from the Berends grandparents. At first we weren't too sure, because those babies shoot out wicked fast! But that's what the protective eye wear and the shield are for, and besides it toughens a guy up! I must have told kids several times, "just shake it off!" when they'd come a whinin'! "Santa" added to the fun by getting each boy a refill pack of darts that come in a mesh bag that you clip to your pants. Imagine 120 plus darts lodged in all the nooks and crannies of your house! It was sweet. The boys had fun shooting and dodging, and later the girls (me, my two sisters and my mom) took over and had own fight. It was great becuase we just sat around the living room shooting each other and some of the boys were content to gather ammo for us and replenish our supplies, so there was no running around involved! You just had to take your shots like a woman! We were undeterred by the red welts and stung lips. No body part was off limits! We were all laughing so hard that several of us had to change our pants, if you know what I mean, and I'm not afraid to admit that I was one of them! In the video, Joe, Emily, Jack and Don are duking it out. Don is using a home-made PVC marshmallow shooter that you blow into! I found out the hard way that this leaves the foam darts a bit moist, when I went to go gather some up! The fun thing about the darts is that they are velcro on the end so they stick to your clothing, and the shield. Don was wearing a fleece pullover that was the perfect dart magnet! Yes, at the end of the video I sustain a hit directly to the forehead! I highly recommend this toy for lots of laughs, stress release, and to solve your issues with your family members! We may be purchasing 2 additional guns for our house in the very near future, so that the 4 of us can have our own good old fashion family fun.

The Krispie Ball Incident

You ask? And I deliver. The long awaited pictures from the Krispie Ball Incident. We were only a few short blocks from home when the unthinkable happened: the dessert had shifted. And along with it, our hopes of ever having enough Krispie Balls to go around. As the powdered sugar settled, and the damage was assessed, Joe took one for the team. He didn't want the tasty dessert to have died in vain. He was not too proud to eat Krispie Balls off of the ground. You are a brave, brave man Joe. I would like to think that I would have done the same if I'd been in your shoes. I, and dessert lovers everywhere, salute you.

Today is a New Day!

I woke up first this morning and walked past Sam's closed door. I thought he was still asleep but I heard him say to himself, "Today is a new day!" I wish you could have all heard him, it was SO CUTE, the way he said it slowly and with such conviction. I know that this stems from the pep talks we've been having with him at bedtime to stay in his bed until morning time, and not get up in the middle of the night. I tell him if you wake up, just roll over and go back to sleep. Don't get out of bed until it's a new day. But for the life of me it sounded like he was doing his daily affirmations or something! Maybe he just needed a little positive self talk. It was so cute and made my heart melt, I just had to go right in and love on him!

O Christmas Tree

These are some of our favorite ornaments:

This scary one creates an annual debate between Damon and I as to what exactly it is. Damon says it's a Chihauha and makes references to the Taco Bell dog. But I know that it's a reindeer. It was on a present my Quint grandparents gave me one year, so I should know!

The jack-in-the-box was made for Damon when he was a boy by his Grandma Brown out of yarn and plastic canvas. It's kind of scary too, but in a good way!

The santa on the right was always a special one of mine growing up. It brings back childhood memories.

The baby Jesus on the left was made by Will when he was in pre-school, out of a half a paper plate, some straw and some striped fabric for a blanket. Jesus smiling face (and what a smile it is!) is a wooden spoon.

There are no words to describe my sweet little angel boy, Will!! Doesn't this just fit him to a tee?! Pffff!

On the left is a random ornament that Will decided to make out of pipe cleaners, puff balls and feathers. Isn't it funny?!

One of Sam's favorite things:

Lucy. His 2005 ornament made my mom.

Will's 2005 ornament made by my mom. He likes books!

On the right a Paper Prayers' ornament.

On the left: another Paper Prayers' ornament.

Jello Jigglers

They are a thing of beauty. They wiggle. They jiggle. They make you smile. They are not just for kids, as certain members of my family will testify.

This year I continued the tradition of making race car jello jigglers for a family get together. This year I "stepped it up a notch" with a layer of cherry creamy jiggler squares (they have jello and vanilla pudding in them) on the bottom, a layer of orange creamy jello jiggler christmas trees in the middle, and of course the piece de resistance, the lime race cars. Despite the warning printed on the recipe, (seriously) Sam can stick a whole race car in his mouth at once. Don't they look like a parking lot?! I'm just so proud. Yes, this is my life.

Santa Obsession

Sam is OBSESSED with everything about Santa. Out of the blue he'll say, "I love Santa." or "I miss Santa." He's always asking me, "Is it Christmas time yet?" We were a bit surprised that he knows so much about Santa, and is so sure he's right, because we never did the whole Santa thing with Will. (Will is very good about keeping this info to himself. He'll just make cryptic comments like, "I know the true meaning of Christmas.") Everything that Sam's picked up has been from TV and books and such. We went to the mall the other day and Sam waved at the mall Santa and Santa said hi back. As we were walking away I told Sam (and I know some of you out there will think I'm mean and cruel!) "You know, Santa is just pretend. It's fun to pretend." He said, "No he's not, he said hi to me!" and I said, "Yeah, but he's just a man in a costume pretending to be Santa." He didn't buy that either. Other times Sam has said, "I'm sad, Santa not bring me any presents." So I said, "How about if mommy and daddy give you presents instead?" And he said, "No, I want Santa to bring me presents." One night when my mom was watching the boys, he wrapped up his leftover cheese bread in a napkin and told his grandma that he was saving it for Santa. We are all about celebrating Jesus' birthday, and Sam seems to get that too, so I guess for this year we'll let him take the lead on Santa - there doesn't appear to be any convincing him otherwise!

Wee Wonderfuls are . . . well . . . Wonderful!

My sister Laura turned me onto this wesite called wee wonderfuls. This woman uses felted wool and vintage fabrics and creates the most wonderful dolls with them. This boy is one of my favorites. She also creates animals and robots which are way cute. She has a separate site where she posts all of her best thrift store and garage sale finds!! This is my kind of gal. This site really inspired me in my creative endeavors and so I wanted to share it with all of you. On her site you can download the patterns - some for free! Also of special interest to me were free download paper dolls, and the make along story. You read the story and then you can download the patterns for the characters. I love how she poses the dolls in real situations for the pictures! It's also fun to check out all of the different photo galleries, (on the right hand side). Some of them are her's and some are of pics from people who used her patterns and wanted to show her their creations. It's fun to look through her originals as a slide show so you can see all the fun details. Check it out!

(Can you all tell that I just recently discovered how to do links and I'm a little "link-happy" right now?!)

Merry Christmas!

Check this out!!! Emily first sent me one of her, so of course, I had to try it too!

Special Delivery!!!

Look at what I found on my door step today!!! We're going to bring him inside and feed him and love him and call him our own. We might even get him a real bed - maybe in the shape of a car. We think we're going to name him George.

Dancing With the Stars Club

In order to be a part of the Star Wars Club, you have to actually enjoy Star Wars. So I guess I can't be a part of it. But I'm thinking about starting a Dancing With the Stars Club. No one here in my house wants to join me. Anyone? Anyone?!

The Star Wars Club

Will and some of his school friends are starting The Star Wars Club. It was his friend Quentin's idea. Quentin suggested that since it was his idea, everyone should give him ten bucks! Will wisely suggested that they do some kind of test instead of trivia questions, "since who is going to have ten bucks?!" At bedtime Will asked me if he could bring 50 cents with him tomorrow. When I asked him why, he said he wanted to give each of his two friends a quarter just for being his friend. We agreed that he'd make them something instead, like a picture. I told him that they weren't going to want his money, that they like him because he's such a cool kid. It made me kind of sad, although he wasn't really paying anyone to be his friend, that's what it made me think of!

Throughout the night tonight Will kept whining about wanting to play Lego Star Wars 2, and we kept repeatedly telling him no. To distract him and make him laugh I started "hypnotizing" him. I swung my finger back and forth in front of his eyes and said, "You're getting very sleepy. When I snap my fingers, you'll wake up and you won't remember anything about Lego Star Wars. You won't even know that it ever existed!" Of course he thought this was really funny, and proceeded to "hypnotize" me. Here's what he came up with: "Mom, you're getting very sleepy. When you wake up, you won't remember that Dancing With the Stars ever existed." I about died laughing! He and I both know that I'm about as likely to forget about Dancing with the Stars as he is to forget about Lego Star Wars. This kid is so funny! I love him so much! We went on to "hypnotize" each other about all kinds of silly things.

That's Nutty!!!

On the way to Cedar Rapids today we saw a joke on the Nesper's sign that said, "Why was the squirrel mad at Santa? Because he got 'nuttin' for Christmas." I told the joke to Sam who didn't appear to get it. Later, he fell asleep in the car and when he woke up the first thing he asked Will was this version: "Why was the squirrel mad at Santa? Because he got nuts for Christmas." It's close!!

A Ruined Christmas

Twice yesterday I got accused of "ruining Christmas." The first time was when I turned off the TV while Sam was watching a Disney cartoon Christmas movie. It was time to go to "Pirate School." He was mad at me for turning it off and said, "Mom! You wuined Chwistmas!" I didn't quite know what to say to that. The second time was when we were at Wal-Mart and Sam kept dropping a roll of wrapping paper out of the cart onto the floor. After the umpteenth time, I scolded him for a few seconds, and I was once again accused of "wuining Chwistmas." I suspect it's something that he heard on TV.

Arrgh!

Sam came home today from his last "pirate school" with some "gleamin' booty!" He got jewelry, coins, and tattoos. So he and Will had fun pretending to be pirates tonight. They really hit the "jackpot." I have no idea what Sam is saying through most of this video.

Video Malfunctions

I just realized that I had set the video settings for the last 2 videos for private, so I don't think anyone was able to view them. So if any of you were wondering why you couldn't view them, that's why. It should be fixed now!

A Special Show

So I was treated to a show tonight! Sam performed his rendition of the Veggie Tales theme song. His introduction goes something like this: (for those of you who can't understand what he's saying,) "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, introducing....me!"

A Funny Story

Helo im Will im going to tel you a funny part of this movie I saw. It is called Cars. In the movie there is a car called Mater and there is another car called Lightening McQueen. Lightening McQueen was trying to find his driver that was a semi truck and he thought he was going on the interstate but he was going on a road to a town. I'm going to skip a few parts. In the town a policeman got him into this little garage thingy and it was night. And Lightening McQueen was sleeping and when he woke up he met Mater and Mater said, "Hello, I'm Mater like tuh-mater with out the tuh. What's your name?" and Lightening McQueen said, "You don't know my name?!" and then Mater said, "Nah, I know your name. Is your name Mater too?" and that was what I was talking about. Good bye.

(So this has nothing to do with the video, but I guess that's what Will wanted to share with you all! I thought he was going to tell you all about his lego creation, but I guess not. You can totally tell where I took over in the "dictation." But this is him talking word for word! I think the funny part lost something in the translation!)

Holly Jolly, by Golly!!!

Tonight we got out the ornaments and the Christmas decorations and finished decorating the house. The boys were so excited!! They were being their usual goofy selves. Trying on all of the stockings seems to be Will's yearly tradition. The only difference is that this year he is concerned that his underwear not show for the picture, so he's holding his shirt down! But I figure that if you're going to run around the house like this, you're asking for your picture to be taken!! We had fun remembering all of the ornaments and where they came from and who made them. We also had our usual "battle" over the placement of the figurines in the manger scene. Will arranged them one way, and then as soon as he left the room I put them how I wanted them. Then he came back, noticed, and put them back his way, and so on and so on!!